1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a multilingual operation and maintenance interface for a telecommunication exchange, in particular a telephone exchange.
2. Description of the Related Art
Telephone exchanges comprise an operations and maintenance unit (OMU), which handles operations related to the operation and maintenance of the exchange. It acts as an interface between the operator and the exchange system. Through the OM unit the exchanges are connected to an operation and maintenance network through which the teleoperator can control, from one place in a centralized manner, several exchanges positioned physically far away. The OM unit of the exchange collects alarms and produces alarm reports, and it also operates in conjunction with the central memory (CM) of the exchange, which stores files concerning subscriber data, charging, signalling, routing and the configuration of the exchange, the operator thus being able to read and change the contents of these files. Its hardware comprises for example a central processing unit (CPU) and, as a separate mass storage, one or several hard disk drives and a diskette drive.
The programs of the OM unit and the operator's computer terminal connected to the unit via an O&M network form the man-machine interface (MMI) between the exchange and the operator. The operator gives commands to the exchange either locally or via remote control by using a man-machine language (MML), the I/O syntax of which is determined in the CCITT Recommendations Z.317 to Z.341. In the MML, there is a separate command for each function. The software is hierarchical and consists of the following basic components. A session begins from the main level, whereupon the display comprises a list of command classes. The command classes form the command class level, and by selecting one command class from the main level, the user receives the menu of the command groups of that class. Each command group is formed of 4 to 8 commands, and by selecting the desired command group it is possible to reach the desired command. The division is functional, so that a command class is responsible for one block of functions, such as the commands for subscriber administration or routing. A command group is responsible for a smaller selection of interrelated commands, for example commands related to the processing of the abbreviated dialling services of the subscriber. The software is based on the menus, and the operator is guided to the right command step by step by means of the menu. The MMI enables the simultaneous existence of several command sessions in the same system. The sessions are mutually completely independent; however, the simultaneous manipulation of the same information from different sessions is prevented.
FIG. 1 shows the menu of the main level. Next to a character there is a name of a command class in plain text, and thus when a character is chosen, access is provided gained to the command group menu of that command class, and from there to the commands of the group by choosing the character of a desired command group in a similar manner. After this, the command can be written. The command form could be for example XRCI:GSW:NCGR=OUTGRP. The command comprises command characters, in this case XRCI, and the subsequent parameters separated by a colon. When the operator is giving a command, the MML program provides, after the command characters have been given, information in text form about what kind of parameters can be used. Each time a parameter has been given, the program provides instructions related to the next parameter. The program gives instructions to the operator at each level, whereupon the operator seldom needs to seek help in the manuals. Giving commands does not require any special skills, the only thing that is required is naturally that the operator understand the language in which the on-line instructions, shown in text form on the display, are written.
The instruction messages, as well as the headings output by the program, are in known exchange systems written in the program code itself, and they are unilingual, the most common default language probably being English. However, telephone exchanges are supplied to very different linguistic environments, whereupon even good on-line instruction messages for commands are not adequate if the operators cannot understand the language in which they are written. Therefore, the manufacturers need to produce exchanges having an MMI which produces text information in the operator's own language. However, one problem is that it is difficult to provide exchanges with instruction messages in a particular language, since the texts are often closely related to the (English) programs of the commands.
Another problem concerns the output format, comprising headings and data, produced by the MML program. When networks employ management programs run by a separate network management computer, which controls, with its control programs, a telephone exchange through an I/O interface of the OMU of the exchange, the network management program must first separate the text sections from the output of the MML program it has received. The data can be processed further only after this procedure. The network management program must thus search for the information it needs from the program of the OMU. When changes are made in the program of the OMU, thus altering their response, the network management computer can no longer distinguish which information to use, wherefore the network management program cannot control the exchange in the desired manner.
One solution to the first problem is naturally to rewrite the MML program to produce outputs in the language desired by the operator. However, it is difficult, since the supplier does not always master the operator's native language well enough. Another known solution is to use a separate text database in connection with the operator's computer. A text record provided by the MML program in default language (often English) and a translation of this text record into the native language of the operator are stored in the text database. When program gives the text output, the operator's computer retrieves, first the corresponding text from the text database, then the translation linked to this text, and in the end shows the translation on the display unit. Due to the search method, this method is slow.
Patent Application EP-0121071, to IBM, discloses a method which enables simultaneous multilingual operation in a data processing system. In the method disclosed, when an application program wants to transmit a message, it requests, via a particular macro comprising a message index, the message request service to perform a task. The service directs the request to a message combination block, which on the basis of a message index and a language index given by the operator of the beginning of the session when he signed onto the computer, retrieves the right message in the right language from a message model data collection stored in mass storage. This application thus discloses a method of composing a message by means of a message model data collection outside the software. The drawback of such a method is, however, that the message model data collection is very large, wherefore a search on the basis of two indexes can take a long time, and also the language cannot be changed during the session.